LEIPZIG
Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, started flying weapons to Iraqi Kurds early morning Thursday - an operation that it says will eventually see it equip around 10,000 Kurdish fighters with 70 million euros of weapons.
According to a statement on the Bundeswehr's website, among the 25 tons of cargo on board the 2 a.m. Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 were 50 bazookas and ammunition, 520 G3 rifles and 20 type MG3 machine guns.
It said that the flight arrived around 3 a.m. at the British base of Akrotiri in Cyprus.
The shipment - the second of which should follow in October - also includes medical equipment for first aid personnel and 4.000 thousand protective goggles.
By the end of the operation, Germany anticipates around 10,000 Kurdish fighters to be equipped with around 70 million euros of weapons from Bundeswehr stocks, according to the statement.
The German government announced in August that it would send more than 600 tons of military equipment and weapons to the Iraqi Kurds, but ruled out joining airstrikes or sending troops to the region to fight ISIL militants which have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more in Iraq and Syria in a bid to establish a cross-border "caliphate."
The operation was coordinated by the European Air Transport Command (EATC) in Eindhoven.
Bundeswehr official Lieutenant Colonel Klaus Brandel told the Anadolu Agency last week that the armed forces would also give arms training to about 30 Kurdish fighters in Germany.
German military aid to continue 'until ISIL destroyed'
Germany will continue to provide weapons and military training to Kurdish peshmerga troops until the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is completely destroyed, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Leyen said that Germany had sent explosives and bomb disposal equipment for the first time to the Kurdish region on Thursday, in a joint press conference with President Massoud Barzani of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
Leyen said: "ISIL equips the places it seizes with bomb set-ups (explosive devices).
"This equipment will be used to defuse these explosives and speed up the process for people to return home."
Emphasizing that the KRG is now hosting more than one million refugees from Iraq and Syrian Kurdish regions, Leyen said the administration needed more humanitarian aid than it had already received.
Peshmerga 'limited'
Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, started flying weapons to Iraqi Kurds early on Thursday morning - an operation that it says will eventually see it equip about 10,000 Kurdish fighters with €70 million ($90 million) of weapons.
Among the 25 tons of cargo on board the Royal Netherlands Air Force KDC-10 were 50 bazookas and ammunition, 520 G3 rifles and 20 type MG3 machine guns, according to a statement on the Bundeswehr's website.
The German government announced in August that it would send more than 600 tons of military equipment and weapons to the Iraqi Kurds, but ruled out joining airstrikes or sending troops to the region to fight ISIL militants, who have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more in Iraq and Syria in a bid to establish a cross-border "caliphate".
Barzani expressed content over the U.S. led airstrikes in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani.
He said KRG was unable to send any peshmerga troops to Kobani, because of "geographical limitations".
'More expected'
He said: "Kobani has a different topography. It is far away from Qamishli, Cizire and al-Hasakah (other Syrian Kurdish regions.) There is a disconnection between Kobani and these regions.
"From Kobani to Afrin, there are Arab tribes that support terrorists. That's why we can't send troops there although we wanted to do so."
Meanwhile, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani will visit the World Economic Forum in Istanbul which starts on Sunday, KRG Government Spokesperson Safeen Dizayee said.
The KRG expects more support from Turkey, the U.S., Europe and Iran in humanitarian, military and political dimensions, Dizayee said.
Saying that the Dohuk province had received about 850,000 refugees since January, Dizayee said: "We expect more support from global powers, the U.N., EU and neighboring countries."
www.aa.com.tr/en
